Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-10-01
THE DIVINE PLUMB LINE.
REV. Or. rALMAeE's SERMON AT
THE BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.

The BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.
/ -----
a Straight UP and Down Religion
Observation-Disclosures Panics CAUSED by n
Need rs Much Sympathy AS Laborers.
BROOKLYN, Sept. 25.-After the great con-
gregation Ind sung tho long meter doxology
III the Brooklyn Tabernacle this morning,
DR.. Taimnge cxpounded the sixth chapter Of
the Second Epstle to the Corinthians, setting
forth'the Importance of separation from bad
fellowship, and saying that man is no bet
4 ter than the company he keeps. Professor
| Henry Eyre Brown played al organ solo.
| Sonata No. / in D minor by GuiIlmant The
Subject OF the sermon was "A Straight Up
and Down Religion and the text was Amos
Evil, 3d. iaaAnd the Lord sai,l unto me, Amos,
what seest thou7 and said, q plumb line y
T DR.. Talmage said:
! The SOLID masonry of the world has to me
fascination. Walk about some of the triunl-
3plial arches aud tho cathedrnls, 400 or 600
years old, and see them stand as erect as
when they were builded, walls of great height
for centuries, not bending quarter Of an
inch this way or that. SO greatly honored
were thenlasons who bunded these walls that
they were free from taxation and called Stree"
masons The trowel gets most of the credit
for these buildings, and its clear ringing on
stone and brick has sounded across the ages
But there is another implement of just as
much Importance as tho trowel, and my test
recognizes it. Briclllayers, and stone lnasons,
Fond carpenters, in the building of walls, Use
an instrument made of q cord at tile end of
which lump Of lend is fastened. They drop
il over the side of the wall, and as the plum
met naturally seeks the center of gravity
in the earth, tile workman discovers
where the wall recedes, and where
it bulges out, and just what is the perpendicu-
lar. Our text represents God a. standing on
the wall of character, which the IsracIites
had built, and in that way measuring it
saAnd the Lord said unto me, Amos, what
seest thou? and said, A plumb line"
What the world wants is q straight up. and
down religion. Much OF the so called piety
of the day bends this way and that, to suit
the times. 1t is horizontal with low state
Of sentiment and morals. We have all been
building wall of character, and it is glar-
ingly imperfect and needs reconstruction.
How shall it be brought into the perpenlicu-
lar! Only by the divine measurement. "And
the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest
thou? and said, A plumb line"
Tliewhole tendency OF the times is to make
Us act by the standard Of what others do. If
they play cards, we play cards. II they
dance, we dance If they read certain styles
of books, we read them. We throw over the
wall of our character the tangled plumb line
of other lives aud reject the infallible test
which Amos saw. The question for me should
not be what you think is right, but what God
thinks sright. This perpetual reference to the
behavior of others, as though it decided any
thing but human fnlliblity, is mistake es
wide as the world. There are 10,O00plumb
lines in .use, but only one is true and exact,
and that is the line of Gods eternal right
There is mighty attempt being made to re-
construct and fix up the Tent Commandment
TO many they seem too rigid The tower of
Pisa leans over about thirteen feet from the
Perpendicular, md people go thousands of
te..see-it It's graceful Inclination, and BY
extra braces and various architectural con-
tlivances.it isliept leaning from century to
century. Why not have the ten granite
blocks of Sinai set little ashanti Why not
have the pillar of truth leaning toweri
Why is not nn ellipsc as good as SQUARED
Why is not an oblique as good as straight up
and down? My friends, we must have
standard; shall it be Gods or inan's7
Tho divine plumb line needs to be thrown
over all merchandise Thousands of years
ago Solomon discovered tue tendency Of
t,,.o,., en- a,1nnroo;ofo c,oodc Ha- ,,,o,
beating down on article lower and lower, and
saying it was not worth the price asked, nnd
wien lie had purchased ct the lowest point he
told everybody what sharp bargain he had
struck, aud how he had outwittod the mer-
Chant Proverbs XXX, II: "It is naught, it Is
naught, saith the buyer, but when he is gone
his way, then he boasteth.' So utterly nsllew
is society i'll this matter tint you seldom find
seller asking the price that he expects to
get He puts on higher value than be pro-
poses to receive; knowing that he will have
to drop II he wants fifty, he asks seventy
five And if he wants 1000 be asks $500 at
is naught," saith the buyer. "The fabric is de-
fective; tho style Of goods is poor; can get
elsewhere better article ct Il smaller price;
it IS out of fashion; it is damaged; it will fade;
it will not wear weln After while the
merchant, from overpersuasion or from de-
sire to dispose of that particular stock of
goods, says: swell, take it at your own
price" and the purchaser goes home with
light step and calls into his private office his
confidential friends, md chuckles Willie he
tells how that for half price he got the goods
mother words, he lies and was proud Of it,
Nothing would make times rs good, and the
earning of livelihood so easy, as the univer-
sal adoption of the law of right. Suspicion
strikes through all bargain making. Men
who sell know not whether they will
ever get tho money. Purchasers know not
whether the goods shipped will be according
to the sample, and what, with the large num-
Der OF clerks who are making false entries
anil then nbsconding to Canada and the ex-
plosion OF firms that fail for millions of dol
lars honest men are at their wits end to
make living He who stands up amid oil
tho pressure and does right is accomplishing
something toward the establishment of high
commercial prosperity. have deep SYM
.in,thv for the laboring classes who toll with
hand and foot. But we must not forget the
business men who, without any complaint or
hammered professions through the street,
nrc enduring stress Of circum-
stances terrific. The fortunate peo-
.ple Of today are those who are
receiving daily wages or regular salaries
And the men most to be pitied are those who
conduct business while prices ere falling
and yet try toll pay their clerks md employees
and arc in such fearful straits that they
would quit business tomorrow if it were not
for the wreck aud ruin of others. When
people tell NE Mt what q ruinously low price
they purchased an article it gives me more
dislnay than satisfaction. I know it means
the bankruptcy and dcfalcation Of men in
many departments. The men who toll with
the brain need full as much sympathy as
those who toll with the hands. All business
life is strucl, through with suspicion, and
panics are only the result Of want of conf